Bhopal: Indian Administrative Service officer Niyaz Ahmad Khan, who is posted as deputy secretary in the public works department of the Madhya Pradesh government, and often makes headlines on subjects beyond the ambit of his position, has once again grabbed eyeballs due to his new novel, 'Brahmins The Great'. It will be launched soon in the presence of Bhanpura Peeths Shankaracharya Swami Gyananand Saraswati in Ujjain.
Niyaz has so far authored seven novels, notably 'Love Demands Blood' (a thriller based on the life of jailed underworld don Abu Salem), 'Destiny in Drugs', 'Be Ready To Die', 'The Ocean of Bliss' and 'Once I Was A Black Man'.
His new work of fiction, 'Brahmins The Great', talks about the higher IQ levels of Brahmins, the rich history of 3,000 years, and their contributions to society. The book also advocates Brahmins for higher posts as they have higher IQ levels.
Since the day the cover page of the English fiction was released showing a long ‘Shikha' and donned in traditional dhoti, janeu, khadau and kamandal etc there has been much talk about this book especially in Madhya Pradesh at a time when Assembly elections are just a few months away and caste based politics hold centrestage.
At the same time, questions were raised on how an administrative officer can claim that Brahmins can contribute to making India a ‘superpower' if given a chance.
Beside praising the Brahmins' IQ level and advocating for respect to the community, in his book Niyaz has also recommended a ‘moral policing' system on the lines of Iran to protect India's rich sanatan dharma and culture. "Moral policing system needs hours to protect India's sanatan dharma, and right wing organisations like Bajrang Dal and some more are doing the same job. Bollywood's the biggest villain for destroying India's rich culture and there must be control on it otherwise things would get worse day by day," Niyaz writes.
He was asked, being an administrative officer, how can he advocate giving power to one particular community which is also against the democratic system?
Replying to IANS, Niyaz said, "See, this is a fiction story, but I called it a realistic fiction. Second, if I have mentioned about Brahmins or their knowledge power, it is an underlying fact. Before picking this subject, I knew that questions would be asked, which is why it took me three years to cross check the facts I have mentioned in my book."
Niyaz claimed that before writing this book, he went through several books written on Brahmins, rishi-munis (sages) and saints. He claimed to have read about Kashmiri Brahmins, the Husaini Brahmins, and the Chitpavan, Dadhichi and several other Brahmins, and he found one thing in common: they were all accomplished thinkers.
Beside all these, he also read more than 1,000 mantras of all the four Vedas and he found that Brahmins had raised concerns about climate change and the protection of nature.
He said that the life of philosopher and politician Kautilya, his foreign policy, philosophy of life, honesty, strategy etc inspired him to write a fiction on Brahmins, which is why he chose the title of his book -- ‘Brahmins The Great'.
When asked about many things he had mentioned in the book, for instance, Brahmins' identity is in danger in the present time and giving absolute power to this particular community can create a controversy in the society, Niyaz said, "All castes and communities are in a race to make their presence and this is not new in the society. And this is true that Brahmins, who did years of tapasya to make India great, today they are not being given credit, instead they are being insulted. If anyone has a problem with it, then it is not IAS Niyaz Khan's personal views, this is a writer's view." This is not the first time Niyaz has spoken about Brahmins. Last year when Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri's movie, ‘The Kashmir Files' was released and a controversy had erupted, he had said the ‘film shows the pain of Kashmiri Brahmins and they should be allowed to live safely in Kashmir with honour." However, his another tweet in which he had requested Agnihotri to also make a movie to show the killings of a large number of Muslims across several states, had prompted the Madhya Pradesh administration to issue a show cause notice to him. —IANS